Chalice lighting

We light this flame today for loveLet it begin by kindling a love in each of our heartsA needed love for self that spreads to otherLet that love grow into a community united by loveA community where love fosters deep justiceAnd let the light of love spread beyond this placeTo inspire a blaze of love in the worldFor only love can deliver what is so sorely neededThe dawning of the day when every passenger upon the earth will truly know justice.

ReadingExtract from Walking on the Pastures of Wonder by John O’Donohue

Every human person is inevitably involved with two worlds: the world they carry within them and the world that is out there. All thinking, all writing, all action, all creation and all destruction is about that bridge between the two worlds. All thought is about putting a face on experience... One of the most exciting and energetic forms of thought is the question. I always think that the question is like a lantern. It illuminates new landscapes and new areas as it moves. Therefore, the question always assumes that there are many different dimensions to a thought that you are either blind to or that are not available to you. So a question is really one of the forms in which wonder expresses itself. One of the reasons that we wonder is because we are limited, and that limitation is one of the great gateways to wonder.

One of the sad things today is that so many people are frightened by the wonder of their own presence. They are dying to tie themselves into a system, a role, or to an image, or to a predetermined identity that other people have actually settled on for them. This identity may be totally at variance with the wild energies that are rising inside in their souls. Many of us get very afraid and we eventually compromise. We settle for something that is safe, rather than engaging the danger and the wildness that is in our own hearts.

ReadingMonet Refuses the Operation by Lisel Mueller

Doctor, you say there are no haloesaround the streetlights in Parisand what I see is an aberrationcaused by old age, an affliction.I tell you it has taken me all my lifeto arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels,to soften and blur and finally banishthe edges you regret I don’t see,to learn that the line I called the horizondoes not exist and sky and water,so long apart, are the same state of being.Fifty-four years before I could seeRouen cathedral is builtof parallel shafts of sun,and now you want to restoremy youthful errors: fixednotions of top and bottom,the illusion of three-dimensional space,wisteria separatefrom the bridge it covers.What can I say to convince youthe Houses of Parliament dissolvenight after night to becomethe fluid dream of the Thames?I will not return to a universeof objects that don’t know each other,as if islands were not the lost childrenof one great continent. The worldis flux, and light becomes what it touches,becomes water, lilies on water,above and below water,becomes lilac and mauve and yellowand white and cerulean lamps,small fists passing sunlightso quickly to one anotherthat it would take long, streaming hairinside my brush to catch it.To paint the speed of light!Our weighted shapes, these verticals,burn to mix with airand change our bones, skin, clothesto gases. Doctor,if only you could seehow heaven pulls earth into its armsand how infinitely the heart expandsto claim this world, blue vapour without end.

Message by James Arnoldi

This talk explores the problematic notion of 'Being a Man'. What does it mean to identify - or be labelled by others - as male? How does it influence that person's self-perception and behaviour? James Arnoldi, founder of New Unity's men's group Not Just a Beard, examines the consequences of being labelled 'a man', as well as exploring his own questions of whether or not to self-identify as one. [The verbatim of this talk isn't available, as James speaks from notes.]

Closing Words

Whoever you areWhether male or female or beyond binariesMay you have the opportunity to grow into your own wholenessTo become the person you dream of beingAn individual connected inextricably to the whole of humanityAnd to all living beings.

DATA PRIVACY NOTICE
New Unity, London
1. Your personal data – what is it?
Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”).
2. Who are we?
New Unity, London is the data controller (contact details below). This means it decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes.
3. How do we process your personal data?
New Unity, London complies with its obligations under the “GDPR” by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.
We use your personal data for the following purposes: -
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Processing is necessary for carrying out legal obligations in relation to Gift Aid or under employment, social security or social protection law, or a collective agreement;
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Specifically, we retain gift aid declarations and associated paperwork for up to 6 years after the calendar year to which they relate; and marriage registers permanently.
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If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Data Protection Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.
9. Contact Details
To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please in the first instance contact the the data privacy trustee at datatrustee@new-unity.org.
You can contact the Information Commissioner's Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.

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